Filmmaker and graphic novelist Blake Leibel has been found guilty in the 2016 murder of his girlfriend, Iana Kasian.
According to ABC 7, he was found guilty in multiple felonies. If convicted, he faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
WRAL reported that the Los Angeles County medical examiner states the victim suffered a very slow and painful death and that all her blood was drained from her body. According to the outlet, authorities believe Leibel was planning to dispose of the body when Kasian’s mother requested that authorities go to the apartment on May 26, 2016.
Shortly after being charged, Leibel had pleaded not guilty to one count each of murder, mayhem, aggravated mayhem and torture. Kasian had given birth to their daughter just weeks before.
According to KTLA, the prosecution said one of the reasons he allegedly committed the murder was that he was jealous of Kasian’s focus on their newborn daughter.
“The amount of cutting and tearing, the violence involved; that’s a lot of anger because she no longer was making him the number one most important thing in her life,” Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman said, according to KTLA.
ABC 7 reported that the prosecution said Leibel’s book “Syndrome,” featuring a baby with its skull partially removed, was the blueprint for the grizzly murder of his girlfriend. Investigators said Kasian had been found in her bed suffering from blunt force trauma to the head, and that she was tortured and mutilated before she was killed.
A recently released report also indicated that her scalp was missing, which left her skull fully exposed. The right side of her face had been torn off, including her right ear. The report indicated there was also an injury to her jaw, which appeared to be human bite marks.
Kasian’s sentencing is scheduled for June 26 at the Airport Branch Courthouse in Los Angeles and he could face the death penalty.